Researchers have found what they think is the key to understanding why the human brain is larger and more complex than that of other animals, in this article courtesy of the University of Colorado Denver and World Science staff. The human brain, with its unequalled cognitive capacity, has evolved rapidly and dramatically.
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Can simply describing your feelings at stressful times make you less afraid and less anxious? A new UCLA psychology study suggests that labelling your emotions at the precise moment you are confronting what you fear can indeed have that effect, writes UCLA's Stuart Wolpert. The research could well be of value to South African institution dealing with people with phobias.
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South Africa’s children are facing a new public health catastrophe if we do not take action on rising levels of cardiovascular disease. This Heart Awareness Month (September), the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa makes a plea to all parents, carers and public health officials – look after our children’s hearts.
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Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe urges South Africans to use alcohol responsibly and curb alcohol abuse among children. Speaking at the national launch of the second annual Sobriety Week campaign on Friday, Thabethe described alcohol abuse as a growing crisis.
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The development of a single-dose anti-malarial drug by the University of Cape Town (UCT) could help Africa and the world tackle a disease that claims almost a million lives a year, the Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor has said. The new molecule, developed by the UCT's Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), was last month selected by Switzerland's Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) for further development.
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Well, maybe not a hike, but more people are walking to better health - a step at a time.

Most know that walking is the most common type of physical activity, but you may not know that walking has increased – in the US, at least – so what about walking more, South Africans? Six in 10 US adults reported walking for at least 10 minutes at one time in the previous week. According to a new CDC Vital Signs report, adults walking this amount rose from 56% to 62% over five years.
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Fresh air is good for children, so is outdoors play good for their eyesight as well?

British children who spend more time outdoors are less likely to become shortsighted according to new research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol. The researchers found that children who spent more time outdoors at age 8-9 were only about half as likely to become shortsighted by the age of 15.
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Six months ago, researchers at UCLA published a study that showed using a specific type of yoga to engage in a brief, simple daily meditation reduced the stress levels of people who care for those stricken by Alzheimer’s and dementia. Now they know why, writes Mark Wheeler.
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Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu are judged likeliest to play a significant role in the growth of a pandemic.

Public health crises of the past decade - such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, which spread to 37 countries and caused about 1,000 deaths, and the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic that killed about 300,000 people worldwide - have heightened awareness that new viruses or bacteria could spread quickly across the globe, aided by air travel. South Africa, as part of the global community, has extensive air links with the rest of the world. We need to be aware of studies such as the one described below. Article by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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Cancers are notorious for secreting chemicals that confuse the immune system and thwart biological defences. To counter that effect, some cancer treatments try to neutralise the cancer's chemical arsenal and boost a patient's immune response - though attempts to do both at the same time are rarely successful.
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If you do not follow your doctor's orders, you do so at your own risk - and cost.

Patients' non-adherence to prescribed medication costs the US health care system an estimated $290 billion annually and can lead to poor clinical outcomes, increased hospitalisations and higher mortality, writes the UCLA's Enrique Rivero. There is perhaps a lesson for us here in South Africa.Read More...

Researchers at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute and colleagues who successfully transplanted specialised retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the eyes of two legally blind patients report that the transplants appear safe and that both patients have experienced modest improvement in their vision, writes Cynthia Lee.Read More...

Limpopo Health and Social Development MEC Dr Norman Mabasa has urged women to undergo tests in order to curb illnesses that threaten their reproductive health, writes Silas Nduvheni. Mabasa was addressing the Population Association of Southern Africa (PASA) conference at the University of Venda in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, on Wednesday. The event was held to mark World Population Day.
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A groundbreaking imaging technology developed by UCLA Engineering professor Aydogan Ozcan that can turn a simple cell phone into a powerful microscope was recently named the top innovation of 2011 by The Scientist, a magazine focusing on the life sciences, research and technology. Ozcan's compact, lightweight and inexpensive microscope has the potential to bring better health care and monitoring to impoverished and underserved areas, such as Africa, writes Wileen Wong Kromhout.Read More...

The ability to distinguish and isolate rare cells from among a large population of assorted cells has become increasingly important for the early detection of disease and for monitoring disease treatments, writes Wileen Wong Kromhout.Read More...

UCLA researchers have discovered that a diet enriched with a popular omega-3 fatty acid and an ingredient in curry spice helps to preserve walking ability in rats that have experienced damage to their spinal cords. The findings, published 26 June in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, suggest that these dietary supplements help repair nerve cells and maintain neurological function after degenerative damage to the neck, writes Elaine Schmidt.
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Compared to normal cells, cancer cells have a prodigious appetite for glucose, the result of a shift in cell metabolism known as aerobic glycolysis or the ‘Warburg effect.’ Researchers focusing on this effect as a possible target for cancer therapies have examined how biochemical signals present in cancer cells regulate the altered metabolic state, writes Jennifer Marcus.
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New software amplifies changes in successive frames of video that are too subtle for the naked eye.

Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed new software that amplifies variations in successive frames of video that are imperceptible to the naked eye, writes Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office.
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MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths - an improvement over similar jet-injection systems that are now commercially available, writes Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office.
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A simple cooler could help patients battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis, now largely controlled in the industrialised world, remains a stubbornly persistent killer in most of Africa, as well as parts of Asia and South America. The spread of multidrug-resistant strains of TB has slowed progress against the devastating disease, which is estimated to strike more than 10 million people annually.
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